Dr. Ansuman Kar, Bhubaneswar, 27 June 2025
It is that time of the year where lakhs and lakhs of devotees pour into Puri with or without any invitation, with only one desire to mingle with the Lord of the Universe. It is this basic feeling that has made the Rath Jatra of Lord Jagannath world famous. Historically speaking, since ages, this place and this day has seen millions gather annually to celebrate the Lord’s annual retreat. But do the lords really go on a retreat or is there any deeper message to it?
The mysteries of Lord Jagannath are as vast as his eyes and the more you look into it the more you find yourself lost. That lord whom the vedas called “निराकार परमब्रह” in folklore took this very mysterious form, which though incomplete physically, is absolutely complete philosophically, leading to a spiritual amalgamation that Adi Shankaracharya rightly described as “प्रणब यंत्र रूपाया, सत्य संकेत विग्रह”.
This Rath Jatra of Lord Jagannath is the epitome of this symbolism of the Jagannath Cult. I will like to make it loud and clear that this journey of Lord Jagananth is not to his “Aunt’s” place. Gundicha temple in general and the Adapa Mandapam in particular is the birth place of Lord Jagannath. Birth place because, according to our Puranas, it is at this place the lords first appeared as the divine log and then it was here where the mystic figure of old Vishwakarma carved the trinity. As we all know, before he could complete them the Queen of King Indradyumna, Rani Gundicha, opened the doors of the workshop thus leaving the idols half built. Pained by this, both the king and the queen were repenting for the mishap when they heard the ‘Voice of God’ that sympathised with them and told them that it is He who wanted to take such a symbolic form. Till this part, the legends or stories of Lord Jagannath are more or less untampered and are universally accepted.
Preceding this is the story of Nilamadhab being worshipped by the Tribal King Biswa Basu and the trail of inquest of the Nilamadhab by Bidyapati, the brahmin priest of Indradyumna. This is also a widely popular story with some alterations of characters and scenes. All these are more of mythology than history but then mythology is a basic recipe in the making of any Cult. After the trinity came to Sri Mandir from their birthplace, the Rath Jatra began as a connection to the umbilicus. Thus, says the legend.
Historically speaking, most available documents and records suggest that Rath Jatra in its present form started during the reign of King Anangadeva III, the grandson of Chodaganga Deva the founder of the erstwhile Ganga Dynasty of Odisha around the fag end of the 12th century or beginning of the 13th century. Certain copper plates and stone relics studied by Shri Kedarnath Mahapatra and Satya Narayan Rajguru reveal that a similar festival like Rath Jatra was already in place at the Lingaraj Temple (built atleast 100 years before the Sri Mandir) known by the name of “Rukuna Rath Jatra”. There also many stories are present but the most accepted one is that Lord Shiva goes to meet Lord Rama who was doing penance for his sin of killing a brahmin like Ravana (“Brahma Hatya”). Nowhere is the Rameswar Temple in old Bhubaneswar mentioned as Lord Lingaraj’s aunt’s place. However, both Gundicha and Rameswar are today wrongly referred to as “ Aunt’s Place”.
Historically, this can be attributed to the advent of the “Bhakti Movement” around the 15-16th century under the leadership of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu played a significant role in personification of Lord Jagannath both as Krishna and as a normal human leading to establishment of many human like rituals starting from the trinity’s bathing to them getting sick and then coming out for a retreat. This dilution was necessary to make the lords more close to the public but in the process we have created unwanted factual errors that have been passing on from generation to generation of guides and commentators of the Cult.
Lastly, let’s look at it from a spiritual and philosophical angle. Our conscience keepers have told us that Lord Jagannath is both the incarnate as well as the incarnation. This makes him omnipresent. The omnipresent has no shape, no figure. He speaks no particular language but dicephers through symbols. If Sri Mandir is the ‘Karmabhoomi’ of Lord Jagannath then Gundicha is his ‘Janmabhoomi’. But this journey is not merely a travel from workplace to place of birth but it is Lord Jagannath’s way of telling humanity to stay connected with its roots – for in situations like a cyclone those who are deeply rooted are never uprooted. Rath Jatra is also the symbol of “आत्मनाम रथ” where the lord asks his devotees to feel him within oneself and only then will the person realise that it is the Lord himself who is driving us to our destiny.
Therefore it is rightly said “रथे तू वामन धृष्ट्व पुनर्जन्म न विदयते”. As when man understands this deep message he will not want to entangle himself in this worldly mesh.
